Our Quest to ride all Makes of Tuk Tuks

Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Mon 16 Aug 2010 01:24
It started in Bangkok 2 years ago, where Sean loved riding the Tuk Tuks
around the streets, a Tuk Tuk is a motorbike with a carriage, so a three
wheeler. Well all year coming through Mexico, Central America and South
America we have continued to try and ride as many as we can, and every class
of them. In Peru they were just holding together on the cobble roads, and
here in Antigua we found grey ones and the challenge here is the rain, and
then river stone cobble roads, so the trip in a teeth rattling experience as
you rattle/ and wobble along the road. But the boys love it, and hang on and
cheer they are a cost effective way of getting about. (see photo of the grey
Tuk Tuk today)
The last 24 hours we have walked miles on the streets taking in the
building, often in half repair from centuries of Earth quakes, we visited
market upon market, we jumped on a horse and carriage as Alex is bewildered
by horses, so the chance to jump on a carriage to get us to where we wanted
and rattle through the streets was too tempting. (see photo)
We have been looking for a particular textile for another cruiser, but
having challengers finding matching, but it has forced us to visit many
markets. But as we walked the streets we find great coffer shops with the
Aroma of coffee out on to the street, with bakeries included. The Spanish
architecture is classic and in various states of repair and restoration, but
it where the house has been made into hotel or shop that the outside is
classic and the rest has been restored, it appears private enterprise is an
more effective restorer here. But the color of the building combined with
the black stones making up the cobbled streets, and then the church towering
fronts at different sections makes for some great atmosphere, combine this
with the painted buses (see photo) they they seem to compete for the most
brightly and elaborately paint buses, which rush up the streets.
The boys had painting this afternoon, on some wooden cars they had put
together yesterday, not sure if the cars or them ended up with more paint on
them, but it is fun, combine this with some maths, and Spanish and even on a
Sunday they are learning.
Tomorrow we head to the mountain lakes, and a week of immersion Spanish for
Tracy and Sean, I will do odd classes while looking after Alex, and visiting
different lake towns. While all of our Spanish has come along, Tracy is
doing well, and this weeks' session we hope will take her to conversational,
so she can continue to extend for the next 4 months, Sean has started to
take it on, and my Vocab is coming along. One our goals this was year was to
try and get the boys especially Sean onto having a second language, and to
really help both Tracy and I on with Spanish, so doing and intense week in
the mountains seems to be a good idea (me I am looking forward to mountain
towns and lakes.).
Stay tuned.

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